Passing the "spouse test"

I usually stop by Flickr just before I go to bed. Perhaps because I'm a visual learner, or perhaps because I like to see the slices of life my friends and acquaintances leave lying around, but it calms me. Tonight I saw a photo of a Kindle from Scott.

When the Kindle arrived late last year to much ado I just couldn't get excited. My main beef remains: cost. But who am I to complain about cost? Hell, I'm a Mac-using Apple-breathing unabashed fanboy par excellence (even if I can't afford the latest gear, I do lust after it). It only makes sense that the Kindle will come down in cost. So I can't exactly pooh-pooh the darn thing on that one criteria.

In fact, I want the Kindle to succeed, but my fear, shared by many sharp gadget-loving folk, is that the features are too esoteric for the mass market. My wife, albeit quite above average, is such a consumer. But when I extolled the virtues of the Kindle, cleverly avoiding the issue of cost, she was intrigued.

For example, I explained the e-ink contrast ratio. I described the cellular modem. I detailed how books, magazines, and even websites can be loaded onto the thing... And now she's really intrigued. The Kindle passed what I consider to be a foolproof mass market test: my wife.

So Amazon, you have just a few months to knock about 50% of the cost off that damn thing before we'll even consider it. Just so you know.